Clutch operating mechanism



Jan. 2, 1934. A. B. WINCHELL CLUTCH OPERATING MECHANISM Original FiledSept. 28, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 TOR fi 751 B. W/ncfid/ BY KWM ATT RNEYCLUTCH OPERATING MECHANI SM Original Filed Sept. 28, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet2 FIG.2

w fi f m (M/ BY 214 W ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 2, 1934 UiNlTE-D STATESPATENT g CLUTCH OPERATING MECHANISM Delaware OriginalapplicationSeptemberv 28, 1931, Serial No. 565,468. Divided and thisapplication April 21, 1932. Serial No. 606,549

15 Claims.

'Tl'iisinventionrelates to clutches and operating-mechanism therefor.

An object of the invention is toprovide arrangements for machines suchas phonographs that will insure quick opening of the clutch at thecorrect time.

'Another object is to provide .for such opening of the clutch by energystoredflby themoving mechanism before the clutch is opened with means torelease the stored energy to quickly open the clutch.

Another object is to employ means to hold the clutch closed until thestored energy is released for opening theclutch.

ZOtherobjects will .appear in the specification, reference being had tothe drawings in which:

.Fig. .1 is. a sectional view through a portion of aphonograph mechanismwith which the clutch is associated, parts of the motor being omitted.

.Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is aperspective- View of the clutch operating lever.

Fig. 4 is a perspective viewof 'the throw-out lever. used to move theclutch lever.

This invention .may be useful in various ma chines, but for illustrativepurposes the clutch andassociated parts have been shown inconnectionwith an automatic phonograph adapted to play a supply ofrecords one after another. In the drawings only enough parts of theautomatic phonograph are shown to illustrate the use of the clutch andthe operating mechanism.

Referring to Fig. 1, thephonograph parts are mounted between a top plate1 anda bottom plate 2, the devices for holdingthese two plates in spacedrigid. relation not being shown hereinas they formno part of 'theinvention. The motor 3 is geared to turntable shaft 4 through worm 5 andgear 6. On this shaft a pinion? is journalled between the bottomof thegear;casing 8 and sleeve 9 fastened to thexlowerjpart of the shaft :bypin 10. When the clutchmember llis raised its teeth engage the teeth ofthe clutch part 13 integral with the lower part ofgear '7.

Intermediate gear 14 is journa1led.at.15 and 16 in the top and bottomplates respectively. This gear'meshes with the pinion 7 and with anothergear.17 fastened to a cammember. 18 journalled at. 19 and 20 in thetopandbottomplates. The foregoing arangement is such that when theclutch member 11 is in engagement with the clutch" member 13 the motor.3revolves the cam member and produces certainrecord changing operations.

The clutch member llismoved byclutch lever i 21 pivoted at. 22. Thisclutchleverhas prongse23 (Fig. 3) that fit into;,groove 24 v.of theclutch member 11. A throw-out 1ever25is .pivoted.at126 to a supportingbracket 2'7. .The oppositeendof this lever has a standard or abutment.28held .in engagement with a shelf 29 onclutch lever-.21 by means of aspring 30 secured to ear 31 and to said shelf 29.

A trip lever 32 is pivoted-at33 to the. bracket 2'7, one end of thebracketv being-:broken awayin Fig. 1. A catch 34 on this lever engagesa. lug-35 on the throw-out lever 25. When these parts-:are in engagementthe throw-out lever maintains: the clutch in open position through thetension of spring 30.

The trip lever 32 is tripped by .;one of two different mechanisms, oneonly of which needs .to be described here. Follower 1arm 36 is, attachedto pickup arm 36 and to suchzarmgthe lever-.37 is also attached. As .the:pickup-arm.moves in playing the record the lever-arm3'7 finally bringstrip dog 36 into engagement withthe projection 38 on the trip lever 32..Thisraises the. trip :lever due to the pivoting of the trip dog on itsaxis-39 and the part 34ismoved to. free theprojection 35. This bringsthe clutch partZll intoengagement with the clutchpart.13by.the:,unbalanced weight of the levers .25 and .21; or :by the. tensionof the spring30 since the tension;isrrelieved-:by downward motion ofthe'.leversi25'--and 21. The apparatusmay'be designed-sothateither ofthese forces; or both combined, may close 1* thecclutch. The "motor .isthus connected through .the; .gears to; the cam ;-member 118 and the:latterrotates and performs certain record=changing operations that neednot be-described. This c'am;;-member 18 makes one completerevolution-whereupon the wedge or cam member .40 .on the {main cam 18moves into the position: shown. in dottedglinesain Fig. 1. Finally; thewedge-rengagesthe. slanting surface 42 and revolvesthethrow-eoutl-leverzabout its pivot point 26 .untilthe-catch'33engages-the projection 35. Thisenergizes'spring-30 becausethe clutch lever .21 .is prevented from. rising -.by the engagement ofthe-slanting surface '43 with the bottom .of the wedge 40. This.wedgelthere fore holds the clutch-lever downandclutchclosed even thoughthe throw-out lever. 251has .been :set to clutch openingposition.'Asithe camcontinues to-rotate the wedge finally clears; the slantingsurface 43 of the clutch leverand the tensionof the spring 30immediately snapstheclutch open. .It willzthusbe seen thattheime'chanism-resets the parts for holding. theclutchopenwhilethe.clutch is still in closed position, and that theclutch is not opened until after this takes place, when the mechanismhas reached the proper point for disengagement.

The follower arm 36 engages grooves 44 and moves the pickup arm 36 andthe lever arm 37 back to the position shown in Fig. 1 and a new cycle ofoperation then takes place.

The complete mechanism of the phonograph and associated clutch parts isshown in my copending application filed September 28, 1931, Serial No.565,468, of which this is a division and some of the broader aspects ofthe invention are also illustrated and described in my other copendingapplication filed April 26, 1930, Serial No. 447,480. The claims in thiscase are directed to the clutch operating mechanism, the remainingfeatures being claimed in the copending cases referred to.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In clutch mechanism, a driving member, a driven member, a clutchbetween said members, means operated by one of said members to store upenergy to operate said clutch, additional means operated by one of saidmembers to prevent the desired movement of the clutch while said energyis being stored and permit the operation of said clutch only at apredetermined time in the movement of one of said members.

2. In clutch mechanism, a power shaft, a part adapted to be driventhereby, a clutch connecting the shaft to said part, means to open saidclutch including a spring, means operated by said part to place tensionon said spring and hold the clutch closed until a predetermined point inthe movement of said part is reached.

3. In clutch mechanism, a rotatable driving member, a driven memberadapted to be rotated thereby, a clutch between said members, meansoperated by the driven member to store up energy to open said clutch,additional means to hold the clutch closed until said energy is beingstored and to release the energy to open the clutch at a predeterminedpoint in the rotation of the driven member.

4. In clutch mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a clutchbetween the shafts, a spring connected to the clutch, means operated bythe driven shaft to energize said spring and means to hold the clutchclosed while the first mentioned means is energizing said spring.

5. In clutch mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a clutchbetween the shafts, a lever connected to said clutch, a second lever, aspring connected between said levers, means connected to said drivenshaft to move the second lever and energize said spring, and means tohold the first lever immovable until the driven shaft has rotated to apredetermined point and thereupon permit the spring to open the clutch.v

6. In clutch mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a clutchbetween the shafts, a lever connected to said clutch, a second leveradapted to place stress on the first lever for closing the clutch, aspring connected to the first lever to open the clutch, and means tomove the second lever to remove the said stress on the first lever andpermit the spring to open the clutch.

7. In clutch mechanism, adriving shaft, a driven shaft, a clutch betweenthe shafts, a lever connected to said clutch, a second lever adapted tomove the first lever for closing the clutch, means driven by the secondshaft to move the second lever to relieve the stress 'on the first leverand means to hold the first lever in clutch closing position while thefirst lever is being moved.

8. In clutch mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a clutchbetween the shafts, a lever connected to said clutch, a second leveradapted to place stress on the first lever for closing the clutch, aspring connected to the first lever to open the clutch, means driven bythe second shaft to move the second lever, and means to hold the firstlever in clutch closing position while the first lever is being moved.

9. In. clutch mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a clutchbetween the shafts, a lever connected to said clutch, a second leveradapted to engage the first lever and move it in clutch closingposition, a spring between the said levers and a cam operated by thedriven shaft to force said levers apart and place stress on said spring.

10. In clutch mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a clutchbetween the shafts, a lever connected to said clutch, a second leveradapted to engage the first lever and move it in clutch closingposition, a spring between the said levers and a cam operated by thedriven shaft to force said levers apart to energize said spring after apredetermined movement of the driven shaft.

11. In clutch mechanism, a motor, a clutch connected to the motor, apivoted lever engaging with the movable member of said clutch, a secondlever having one end extending past the free end of the first mentionedlever and a spring tending to move said two ends toward each other.

12. In clutch mechanism, a motor, a cam, a clutch between the motor andthe cam, a pivoted lever engaging the movable member of said clutch, apivoted lever having one end extending past the free end of the firstmentioned lever, a spring connected to the two levers tending to holdthem together, and a projection on said cam adapted to be moved betweenthe ends of the two levers to separate them and put tension on saidspring. p

13. In clutch mechanism, a motor, a cam, a clutch between the motor andcam, a pivoted lever engaging the movable member of said clutch, apivoted lever having one end extending past the free end of the firstmentioned lever, a

its

spring connected to the two levers tending .to

one end extending over the free end of the first.

lever, a cam on said member adapted to move between the two levers andhold the first lever with the clutch closed while moving the secondlever, and a spring between the two levers adapted to snap the clutchopen as soon as the same cam passes from between the levers.

15. In clutch mechanism, a motor, a rotatable member, a clutch-betweenthe motor and said member, a pivoted lever engaging with the movablepart of said clutch, a second lever having one end extending over thefree end of the first lever, a cam on said member adapted to movebetween the two levers and hold the first lever with the clutch closedwhile moving the second lever, and a spring between the two leversadapted to snap the clutch open as soon as the said cam passes frombetween the levers, and a third pivoted lever adapted to engage and holdthe second lever in the adjusted position.

ARTHUR B. WINCHELL.

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